


All That Glitters

by ashtin



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Air!Changbin, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Dark!Woojin, Earth!Jisung, Elementals, Fairies, Fire!Felix, Human!Jeongin, Light!Minho, M/M, Prince!Minho, Prince!Woojin, Supernatural Elements, Water!Hyunjin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 04:44:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18336428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtin/pseuds/ashtin
Summary: The young prince had accepted his nonexistent potential of becoming someone of importance to his family, so it came as a shock to him when he was pulled into a conference room when he was meant to be having an important lesson on magic flow and control.It can’t always be LightBut only when Darkness comesCan it be brighter





	All That Glitters

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been a loooooooooooooong time coming. I hope you guys enjoy it. Happy birthday, Cryl~
> 
> Trigger warning: mentions of blood. Nothing gory or detailed, but there will be mild fight scenes.

_It can’t always be Light_

_But only when Darkness comes_

_Can it be brighter_

 

Minho was the very personification of everything that entailed light and happiness in the world. He was the first rays of sunlight that reflected brilliantly across the surface of elegant rivulets and vast oceans. He was the endearing smile of one that looked passionately in the eyes of a lover, and his voice that indescribably pleasant feeling of perfect harmonies matching sweet melodies in wonderful music.

 

Minho was the Young Prince of Light, and a downright menace. He was not even considered for the crown, as he was the fourth and youngest of the King’s children. Even though he shared the same day of birth with his twin sister, Mina, he was still younger than her by hours. His entire family, _hell,_ his entire kingdom liked to remind him just as much.

 

Growing up, Minho made use of his young age and acted like any baby of the family normally would. He grumbled through royal meetings and feigned sick to get out of etiquette lessons that bored him half to death. But he excelled in his magic studies and academics forced upon him - a royal curriculum that was mandatory for all, regardless of if they were in line for the crown or not!

 

He lived his life on the edge and dragged both his bodyguard and life-long companion with him every step of the way. He took pride when Felix and Jisung stopped resisting and began to join along in his antics without prompting, even if it took _years_ to bring someone as stoic as Felix to that point.

 

The young prince had accepted his nonexistent potential of becoming someone of importance to his family, so it came as a shock to him when he was pulled into a conference room when he was meant to be having an important lesson on magic flow and control.

 

“A what?” The fairy prince straightened up from where he sat reclined in one of the many massive desk chairs around his father’s conference room.

 

“A merger.” One of the king’s drones reiterated.

 

“And if I refuse?” The prince went back to making shapes with the suspended glitter dust in attempt to seem utterly disinterested in anything the other man was talking about, but listened closely. He was the prince, after all. However reckless and aloof he may seem, the prince would not be taken for a fool or uncaring of his status.

 

“You are to go and meet him next week at his university. Your father has already made the flight arrangements and you will be staying in one of the hotels-“

 

“The Dark prince himself goes to a boring mundane university? Why?”

 

“If you’re so curious, young master, I believe you should go find out for yourself.”

 

“I’m not curious.” The prince mumbled to himself and let the glittering dust around him dissolve into nothingness. “I’m intrigued.”

 

Minho rolled his chair away from the long mahogany table until he was beside one of the tall windows that took up a whole wall of his father’s conference room. He spied Jisung down in the gardens, the younger playing with sprouts that threatened to bloom by the Earth fairy’s presence alone.

 

Minho smiled. He was glad his companion had somewhere he could fully practice his element without the worry of a mundane’s wandering curiosity being able to see through glamours they would have to set up.

 

The young prince wondered what this new merge would mean for his companion. Surely his parents would not think of dismissing the even younger Earth fairy…

 

Minho shook his head. He did not even want to think about such scenario where Jisung would cease to be present in his everyday life.

 

He felt Felix slip into the room once his father’s drone left. The man had long since given up on making the youngest prince listen to his precautions about the mundane society and excused himself on the note that he should be wary of those who ‘believed’ or other glamoured creatures that blended into every day society.

 

Minho didn’t care. His mandatory visit would be short and sweet. He would go, meet the Dark prince, make the man’s boring life a living hell and pray that it would be enough to make the other refuse the merger, and then be back to his home palace in the blink of an eye.

 

He refused to be seen as nothing more than a pawn in his parents’ games with other kingdoms. They could use Mina for all he cared, but not him.

 

“So…” Felix spoke in the soft tone he used when he was unsure of what Minho was feeling.

 

The young Fire fairy had grown much closer to both Minho and Jisung over the years, but Minho knew the other still felt awkward when it came to addressing serious matters, even if it _was_ his job. Felix was hired on as Minho’s personal assistant and bodyguard when the prince turned fifteen. Minho had laughed, because how on earth was a _thirteen year old_ Fire fairy that only came up to Minho’s neck possibly be responsible for a prince’s management, protection, and all around well being?

 

Felix ended up proving himself the night Minho decided he wanted to raid the kitchens well after his curfew.

 

| FLASHBACK |

 

“It will be fine, really. I’ve done this millions of times in the past, little fireball.” Minho assured his younger bodyguard as he slipped his feet into a pair of sandals. He failed to see the need to get dressed back in his day clothes just for a trip down to the kitchens, but he felt immensely under-dressed next to Felix, who was still clad in his combat-ready get-up that looked more uncomfortable than anything else. “But you can come along, if you must.”

 

Initially, Minho decided that he would allow the Fire fairy to accompany him to the kitchens for the sake of not having to fire up the stoves if he wanted something to be heated, nor would he have to dip into his own magic to do it himself. Felix had been more than aware that he was allowed along for nothing more than convenience to the older fairy, but he was content enough that he didn’t have to use force to make the other concede in the end.

 

Minho had only _just_ finished piling an impressive amount of sweets onto a tray that he had Felix holding for him when the Fire fairy straightened up and held a finger up to his mouth to signal Minho not to say a single word. Felix then slid the tray of food onto the counter without making even the smallest of sounds and pulled Minho closer to him only to shove the older fairy to the floor and into an opening underneath another counter.

 

Any and all complaints died on Minho’s tongue as flames began to erupt from Felix’s fingertips.

 

The young Light fairy backed himself further into the opening to get away from the blazing heat that only intensified with every passing second Minho was on the floor.

 

“Who the fuck are _you_?” A voice Minho didn’t recognize rang out, causing the prince to jump.

 

“He’s just a kid. We can take him.” A second voice spoke up before Felix could answer the first. Minho’s mind began to race at their words. Take him? Felix? A thirteen year old child? Why on earth would-

 

“But why would they have a Fire elemental _kid_ in the palace?” The first voice asked, sounding much closer than before.

 

“He could be work‒”

 

“Shut up before I burn your heads off.” Felix’s surprising baritone cut them off.

 

The hair on Minho’s arms stood on end at the icy tone in his bodyguard’s voice. Felix had never been very personable toward the prince, but he always spoke warmly and was never anything short of respectful to Minho. The two other voices the prince heard had to belong to someone in their twenties at the _latest!_ And even he, a prince, would never dare talk with such disrespect to someone that much older than him.

 

Something was _very_ wrong.

 

“Oh, yeah? And what if we kill you before you can do that, huh?”

 

“Wooyoung, no. We were only instructed to fetch the young prince.” Minho clamped a hand over his mouth in order to mask the harsh gasp at the man’s words. They snuck into the palace to kidnap him?!

 

The sound of flames roaring to life filled the room. Minho glanced up just in time to see the two intruders in the reflection of a glass cabinet door across the room. Each of them took a step back as Felix advanced forward.

 

“What? Did they really send two non-elementals for such a grand mission as kidnapping the young prince?” Felix asked with a smile in his voice as he took another step closer to the men.

 

Minho caught sight of Felix’s eyes as the other turned his head to the side to scoff. They were glowing in a way Minho had never seen in the half year he’d known the Fire, and the freckles that dotted his face pulsated in orange, yellow and black gradient-like hues that rose away from his cheeks like burning embers turning to ash as they floated above the young fairy.

 

Minho unconsciously backed even further into the small opening he was hidden in. The glint he’d seen in Felix’s eyes looked nothing short of sinister to the young prince. The pure _rage_ in the look had him reevaluating the way he had been treating the younger boy over the last few months and Minho felt his stomach drop to his feet. This was something he had never thought the Fire could even be capable of!

 

“I will give you two a choice.” Minho heard Felix’s deep growl and refocused on the blurry reflection of the two intruders.

 

The glint of their knives flashed in time with the whipping of flames that still surrounded Felix. Sweat began to drop own the sides of Minho’s face, and he could feel even more of it starting to pool at the small of his back. Still, he did not _dare_ to move from his hiding spot, no matter how uncomfortable it had began to feel.

 

Felix continued when the men failed to answer him, “You can surrender yourselves and let me turn you over to the palace guards.”

 

The man closest to Felix scoffed while the other took a hesitant step back. Minho figured the one that was more reluctant was probably the brains out of the two, if they had any brains between them at all.

 

“And if we choose not to surrender to a puny little flicker like you?”

 

Minho gasped out loud when the roar of flames grew impossibly louder and flattened his back against the surface behind him when a few flames licked at the floor right in front of him.

 

When his parents said they hired a Fire fairy to be his personal assistant and bodyguard, they never mentioned that he would be 1) thirteen years old, and 2) lethal.

 

“Then, your other option is for me to dispose of you however I see fit… Without the help of the other guards.”

 

“I sure would love to see you try, brat!”

 

Minho hid his face in the tops of his knees when the sound of footsteps rushing Felix reached his ears.

 

Amidst the short scuffle, there was a bright glint of light hitting metal before a knife clattered on the floor just over a meter away from Minho’s feet. It was unlike any knife the prince could ever remember seeing in the kitchens before then, and- was that blood across the blade?!

 

“F- Fel-”

 

 _“Fuck!_ You’re going to pay for that you son of a bitch!” Expletives spilled from one of the intruder’s lips, but Minho shielded his eyes once more as the bright light of the flames became too much for him.

 

The sound of the flames died out only moments later and Minho lifted his head as his breathing became the only source of sound in the room. He was just in time to see two figures fall to the ground in the reflection of the cabinet across the way. The overwhelming heat surrounding him dissolved into nothing and the air became alarmingly cold in the absence of it.

 

Minho had not even realized his whole body was shaking, and rather violently at that, until Felix peered into the opening seconds later.

 

In his mind, Minho knew that his bodyguard would never even dream of hurting him, but his body moved on its own accord as he scrambled to move as far away from the Fire fairy as possible.

 

“You can come out, now. It is safe.”

 

Minho could only nod and pretend that he hadn’t seen the hint of hurt in Felix’s expression when he backed away from him.

 

The Light prince slowly crawled into the open, but still flinched away from Felix’s offered helping hand when he made the move to stand up on his own. He turned to face away from the bodies not even two meters away from him and let the silence between Felix and himself stretch until he couldn’t bear it any longer.

 

“Are they…” He trailed off, unable to look the younger boy in the eyes after what he’d just witnessed.

 

“Dead? No. They’re just knocked out. I’m going to report to the guards and then bring you back to your wing. Please cooperate, young Prince.”

 

“Felix, wait.” Minho made a move to reach out and grab the younger’s wrist, but stopped short as the images of flames erupting from the same boy’s hands flashed in his mind.

 

Felix looked up at the Light prince with an understanding expression. It wasn’t abnormal for someone to fear him after seeing him use his powers so extensively.

 

“I took an oath when I came to the palace, I’m sure you know,” Felix took a step forward and reached his own hand out to meet Minho’s halfway. “I swore to protect you with my life. And I will do exactly that until this job either lands me in my grave or I am dismissed from duty. Until then, please do not be afraid of me… or make my job more difficult than it needs to be.”

 

Minho closed his fingers around the other boy’s hand with a nod.

 

“Your shoulder!” Minho exclaimed, eyes wide with worry at the sight of the tear in Felix’s gear. His eyes searched until they found the discarded knife near their feet and he swallowed thickly at the sight of the droplets of blood that had fallen off the blade around it.

 

Felix flit his eyes in the direction of the wound before settling them back on Minho.

 

“I will be fine. It’s just a scratch.” He said with no real emotion in his voice.

 

“Felix, you’re _bleeding._ ” Minho began to tug on the younger’s hand when Felix tried to pull it out of his grasp.

 

“If me bleeding means that you are still alive and breathing, then I will gladly bleed ou-”

 

“God, shut up! Come here.” The prince demanded and left no room for argument.

 

Felix immediately straightened up at the command and inched closer to the Light prince until they stood almost chest to chest. Or rather, face to chest, since Felix was still considerably shorter than the other by several centimeters.

 

“Hold still,” Minho whispered as he brought a hand up to cover the deep gash that still dripped blood. It soaked the surrounding area of Felix’s upper garment and Minho bit his lip as his eyes trailed down as far as the stain that almost reached the Fire’s navel.

 

The prince closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before opening them again to reveal their original bright glittering nature Felix had never witnessed in all the time he’d known the elder.

 

Light began to seep from under Minho’s palm where it was still positioned over the wound until Felix physically _felt_ the light switch direction as it began to pour into the cut and close it up. It was the Fire fairy’s turn to widen his eyes at the magic Minho performed as the light became visible underneath his skin. He could feel it work to mend every broken fiber that had been the result of the knife skimming across his shoulder; an attack that was intended to strike his heart, but was poorly executed and movement too slow for Felix’s honed senses. His entire life up until that point had been spent training for moments just like it, and for it being his first ever real encounter or battle of any sort, he figured he’d done pretty damn well.

 

“There.” Minho’s tired voice brought the Fire out of his thoughts as he dropped his hand away from Felix’s shoulder.

 

Aside from the way Felix’s eyes blinked in rapid succession at the new smooth skin on his shoulder where a wound, or at least a _scar,_ should have been, the young Fire fairy showed no real signs of surprise at the prince’s use of magic. He been made aware of the prince’s abilities and how far along the other had been in his training to wield such hefty magic, but Felix never expected to be the one to experience it first hand.

 

“Can… Can you-” Minho stumbled over his words until Felix looked away from his shoulder and into the elder’s eyes questioningly. “Would you mind taking me back to my room? Please? I’m exhausted.”

 

It was then that Felix noticed that the glitter in Minho’s eyes had faded into a barely-there dull spark or two as the older boy struggled to keep them open.

 

“Of course, Your Highness.” Felix ducked his head swiftly and scooped the prince into his arms.

 

With one last look at the intruders knocked out on the floor, Minho looped his arms around Felix’s neck and laid his head on Felix’s shoulder, and whispered a small ‘thank you,’ into the ripped material of Felix’s gear.

 

| PRESENT |

 

“Minho?”

 

“Hmm?” The young prince answered his bodyguard while he stared back out the window with a fond smile. It had taken months after the attempted kidnapping incident for Minho to convince the Fire fairy to call him by his name rather than addressing him as ‘Young Prince’ and ‘Your Highness,’ every five seconds.

 

“I do not know if this is going to change anything, but Jisung and I will follow whatever decision you make. You know that, right?” Felix moved to stand beside Minho and joined him in observing Jisung down in the garden with a small smile of his own.

 

“Of course I know that, Lix.” Minho sighed. “But I don’t intend for this to change anything.”

 

“Wha-?”

 

Minho cut him off with a smirk. “I will meet the Dark Prince. But when I’m done with my little visit he will have long since called off the engagement. Don’t worry.”

 

Felix gaped at the twenty-two year old before him. “Are you not worried what might happen if you refuse?”

 

“I will not be the one refusing.” Minho stated simply with a wink.

 

He used his feet to push himself back from the window until his chair hit the table and swiveled himself back around with a sigh.

 

Minho’s golden essence appeared around him in glittering swirls before he twirled his finger around in front of him, a useless act since he directed the essence with his mind and not his finger, but it made for a nice show as the sleeve of his white semi-translucent tunic fluidly slid up to his elbow from the movement. The dust moved along with the small action and multiplied until there was enough for Minho to construct a replica of the moon, in its fullest phase, hung in the night sky, complete with a few of the more popular constellations filling the air above the long conference table.

 

“Fetch Jisung,” He instructed Felix, who watched in slight awe as Minho made a flicking motion toward a particularly bright ‘star,’ and making it sail across the room like a shooting star. “We have a plane to catch.”

 

* * *

 

small incomplete character thread: [here](https://twitter.com/lovelyjjix/status/1106333923511099393?s=20)

fairy minho fanart by cryl: [here](https://twitter.com/seungshine_of_9/status/1113471640946348033) uwu

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry the spacing is kind of gigantic, I'll fix it when I'm more awake!
> 
> twitter: @lovelyjjix  
> cc: curiouscat.me/lovelyjjix


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